LLC Newsletter
From The University of Chicago Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories
Welcome to the first issue of Research Update, a monthly electronic newsletter from the Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories (OVPRANL). This office, led by Thomas F. Rosenbaum, John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Physics, provides central administrative support for sponsored research at the University of Chicago and is responsible for the management, operation and scientific oversight of Argonne National Laboratory. The OVPRANL works with individual scholars, departments, and divisions to encourage, seed, and coalesce research across the University and Argonne campuses.
Research Update is designed to provide Argonne employees with relevant and timely news and information about University research programs, projects, and events. It also offers a way to stay up-to-date on research opportunities, grants and facilities available to researchers both at the University and at Argonne. In addition, Research Update will also include summaries and Web links to recently-published stories of interest to our communities.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Research Update, please feel free to email them to ResearchUpdate@listhost.uchicago.edu.
March 6, 2006
This Month in Research Update:
Competition Update
One-on-Ones Completed
On Friday, Jan. 27, representatives from the highest levels of the University, Argonne and industry partner companies attended a two-hour, one-on-one session with the Department of Energy (DOE). The session provided the University and Argonne the opportunity to discuss the proposal with the DOE and ask questions specific to our effort.
The following University representatives attended the meeting: Don Randel, President; Thomas Rosenbaum, Vice President for Research and for Argonne; Beth Harris, Vice President and General Counsel; and Hank Webber, Vice President for Community and Government Affairs. Argonne representatives included Robert Rosner, Laboratory Director; Donald Joyce, Deputy Laboratory Director; Kelly Mannsfeld, Deputy to the Lab Director; and Gail Stine, Director, Project Management and Engineering. Attendees from Jacobs Engineering included Terry Hagen, Vice President, Federal Sales; and Steve Richardson, Director of DOE Programs. Attendees from BWXT included Ken Camplin, Vice President, Business Development; and Chuck Bernhard, Senior Business Development Manager.
We presently await the issuance of the Request for Proposal by the DOE.
If you have further questions, or want to know more about the competition, please visit the University Research website that now provides the opportunity to ask questions about the competition via a new Question Submission Page. Updates to the FAQ page are made on an ongoing basis as needed. The DOE Office of Science’s website is also an excellent source of information.
URA and the University Announce Partnership for the Management of Fermilab
Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA) and the University jointly announced last month the formation of their partnership to bid for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contract to manage Fermilab. The partnership is expected to enhance the management of Fermilab and to facilitate synergies between both Argonne and Fermilab including:
- Frontier research in particle physics;
- Astrophysics and high-performance computing; and
- Launching major new programs such as the proposed International Linear Collider and the Rare Isotope Accelerator.
For their proposal to DOE for the management of Fermilab, the partners will establish a new non-profit Limited Liability Company (LLC) engaging other leading research universities in the region - Illinois Institute of Technology, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The new organization would begin in January 2007 upon being awarded the contract. Full story.
OVPRANL News
Grid computing innovator Ian Foster to lead Computation Institute
Informatician/surgeon Jonathan Silverstein named Associate Director
Grid computing pioneer Ian Foster has been appointed Director of the Computation Institute, a joint project between the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory that addresses the most challenging computational and communications problems arising from a broad range of intellectual pursuits. Also appointed, as Associate Director of the Institute, is Jonathan Silverstein, Assistant Professor in Surgery at the University.
In his new role as Director of the CI, Ian hopes to foster the convergence of computing and science by providing a home and meeting place for talented scientists who are dedicated to not only applying, but also advancing, computer technology. In this way, he and Jonathan hope to catalyze interdisciplinary science across the University and Argonne, and to produce fundamental innovations in computing and its applications.
Foster, Associate Director of Argonne’s Mathematics and Computer Science Division and the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, succeeds Rick Stevens, Director Mathematics and Computer Science Divisions at Argonne, as Institute Director effective March 1. Under Rick Stevens’ able leadership, the CI has facilitated the creation of major projects across a range of topics, including GriPhyN, TeraGrid, SIDgrid, and NMPDR, as well as numerous smaller interdisciplinary investigations. Both the University and Argonne are grateful to Rick for his dedicated service and vision. Full story.
Funding for New Nanobiology Research Facility
As part of an ongoing program to develop core and shared-use facilities across the campus, open as well to Argonne researchers, the OVPRANL will fund acquisition of a time-resolved luminescence spectroscope for the new Nanobiology Core Facility in the Center for Integrative Sciences (CIS).
Norbert Scherer, Professor of Chemistry, believes that the spectroscope will be useful to researchers in chemistry interested in novel photo-active materials, including semiconductor nanoparticles and organic polymers, and to biologists studying in vivo activities with new fluorescent or phosphorescent molecules or quantum dots. It also will serve as a teaching facility for students interested in sophisticated laser-based research devices.
Over the past three years, the OVPRANL has committed more than $1 million in funding to shared-use facilities and equipment, including:
- A scanning electron microscope (SEM) one instrument in an electron microscopy core developed by Heinrich Jaeger, Professor of Physics, as part of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: The resolution of the new microscope is five times better than the instrument that it replaces; it will work at the scale of large molecules, making it particularly useful for biologists, chemists, and materials scientists. The microscopy core's location in the CIS makes it available to both Biological Sciences Division and Physical Sciences Division scientists.
- An electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) instrument, also in the CIS, that uses free radicals to study molecules: Overseeing the EPR facility will be James Norris, the Robert Millikan Distinguished Service Professor in Chemistry.
- Electron Microprobe Laboratory located at the Fermi Institute: The microprobe can identify chemical elements in a one-micron sample. The laboratory, directed by Ian Steele, Senior Research Associate in Geophysical Sciences, is being used to study meteorites, mining, and microbes causing infectious diseases.
- Linguistics Labs: Three new laboratories (Semantics, Computational Linguistics, and Phonetics) will receive new equipment, software, and upgrades that will significantly expand the capabilities of the Humanities Division and help to forge stronger connections with departments in other disciplines. The laboratories will be run by the following Department of Linguistic faculty: Chris Kennedy, Associate Professor (Semantics); Jason Riggle, Assistant Professor (Computational Linguistics); and Alan Yu, Assistant Professor (Phonetics).
Events
BIO2006 – The International biotechnology meeting, BIO2006, will convene in Chicago April 9-12 2006. The conference provides an opportunity to meet with men and women who are taking biotechnology from the laboratory to the marketplace and exchange ideas. Leading Illinois research institutions, including University and Argonne, are major sponsors of the show. Representatives from both organizations will participate in panels and press opportunities.
Tech Forum – Created in 2000, by Mayor Daley and the Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors, Tech Forum was designed to strengthen and support science and technology here in the Midwest. Hosted by the University at the Business School’s downtown Gleacher Center, the Tech Forum invites university, government, business and non-profit leaders to learn about discoveries and leading-edge technology developed in Chicagoland. Argonne Director Robert Rosner will be the keynote speaker for a special Tech Forum recognizing Argonne’s 60th Anniversary on Wednesday, May 24 from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m..
CIS Dedication – On April 26, 2006 the University’s new Center for Integrative Science (CIS) building will be dedicated as part of overall festivities planned for the occasion. The $200 million building encompassing 400,000 square feet on the southeast corner of 57th and Drexel, was designed to promote cutting-edge, inter-disciplinary research. Once fully occupied, the building will bring together 100 senior scientists along with 700 additional researchers and students. Scientists began moving into the building last June.
Building occupants will include the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Ben May Cancer Research Institute, the Chemistry Department, and the James Franck Institute.
Research in the News
Clayton received National Medal of Science from George Bush
University of Chicago’s Robert N. Clayton, the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Chemistry and Geophysical Sciences and the College at the University of Chicago, received the National Medal of Science from President George Bush on Monday, February 13th. Clayton was recognized for his contributions to geochemistry and cosmochemistry that provided insight into the evolution of the solar system. Full story.
$25 million gift from Jules and Gwen Knapp will help build 10-story medical research facility at the University of Chicago
Jules and Gwen Knapp of Chicago have donated $25 million toward construction of a 330,760-square-foot, 10-story, state-of-the-art facility that will provide a new home for translational research programs in cancer, children's health, and other medical specialties at the University. Full story.
Searle family to fund biomedical research in Chicago
The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust has made a grant of $5 million to the Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC), a collaboration of Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The grant, the first of a planned five-year donation of $5 million per year for a total of $25 million, is designed to support and stimulate innovative multi-institutional collaborations in research and education that will enable the Chicago area to become a leader in the biomedical sciences. Argonne biological and computational scientists will mesh naturally with the CBS's efforts.
The program will be reviewed in its fourth year. If it progresses as planned, The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust may provide an additional $25 million for a five-year extension of the program, bringing the 10-year total to $50 million. Full story.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Research Update, please feel free to email them to ResearchUpdate@listhost.uchicago.edu.
